Soap-under-the-sheet trick works again

Dear Dr. Gott: Once again, I have learned how little we know.

I had been practicing medicine in Pasadena, Calif., for 43 years when I retired in 2002. In 2003, I had an extensive laminectomy for spinal stenosis. About a year after the operation, I began to experience lower-leg cramps and tingling at night. After months of complaining to my wife, she told me about your article on using a bar of Ivory soap under the lower bedsheet. To my great surprise, the problem disappeared.

Our son, an orthopedic surgeon, was told about this, and he was skeptical. But just last week he called to read me a letter from one of his patients who had told him about her nocturnal leg cramps of several years’ duration. Out of frustration, my son told her about the “soap under the sheet” trick. She was writing to my son saying the leg cramps disappeared. She was ever so grateful.

Thanks to you, the world is a better place. Congratulations on your continuing good work.

Dear Reader: Yours is not the first letter I have received about the beneficial effects of soap-under-the-sheet therapy. But it is certainly the most articulate because, as you know, orthopedic surgeons are a tough bunch to convince about any nonoperative therapy. (Just kidding.)

In view of the avalanche of letters from grateful readers, I wish I knew why this bizarre therapy works. But it does, at little cost and no risk.

Thanks for your compliments.

Dear Dr. Gott: I am 90 years old and have trouble with diarrhea. I just can’t control it. I wear a diaper all the time and don’t go anyplace. Outside of cheese, what food would help?

Dear Reader: Chronic diarrhea in a senior is always cause for concern, because it may reflect a bowel problem that should be under the care of a gastroenterologist, who, after examining you, may opt for a colonoscopy. Meanwhile, I suggest you purchase over-the-counter Imodium AD and use it to control both the urgency/frequency and character of your stools. At the very least, the medicine will give you more control over your evacuations and improve the quality of your life and independence.

To give you related information, I am sending you a copy of my Health Report “Constipation and Diarrhea.” Other readers who would like a copy should send a long, self-addressed, stamped envelope and $2 to Newsletter, P.O. Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092. Be sure to mention the title.